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Fashion is fickle; philanthropy is not.

Just ask the members of the Alpha Wives of Montgomery County. The local organization brings well-off women together to help the less fortunate, and the ladies know that a fashion show is always a winner in the fundraising stakes. They also know that in this case, homespun just won't do. That's why, for 30 years now, they've been bringing in a professional, models-and-runways-and-haute couture fashion show, the kind you usually have to travel to Paris, Milan or at least Bryant Park to see. The show is in the Music Center at Strathmore, the fashions range from Carolina Herrera to Luca Luca, the proceeds go to charity, and there's plenty of time before, during and after for networking, reconnecting and plain old-fashioned girl talk.

"I'm not a ‘designer person,'" says event chair Catherine Leggett. "I just like fashion shows. This is totally upscale – couture: You have Christian Dior, Oscar de la Renta. With your ticket, you get a year's subscription to Ebony or (a six-month subscription to) Jet, and it's just so entertaining, such a nice evening.

"It will be," she predicts, slightly tongue in cheek, "the best show ever in Montgomery County."

Leggett, who lives in Burtonsville, is a career woman in her own right, although she's perhaps best known to the public as the spouse of the county executive. Being married to Ike Leggett is what made her eligible for membership in the Alpha Wives Club in the first place. The group has, since 1971, supported the endeavors of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, to which members' husbands belong.

"The Alpha Wives is an extension of the Alpha men's fraternity," she explains. "And I joined the wives because they're dedicated to Montgomery County.

"They're willing workers in the community I love."

Darn socks

To understand the "wives," you need to start with the husbands. The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity began at Cornell University in 1906, a union of seven African American men who banded together to face down prejudice and encourage their own academic excellence and social responsibility. The fraternity spread to Howard University and from there, across the country and around the world. Interracial since 1945, the fraternity has initiated 125,000 men in the last century — and created corresponding chapters for Alpha Wives.

"It started as ‘the wives of the men,'" says Jane McCarthy of Olney, the Montgomery chapter's president. "But it's not an auxiliary where we darn their socks!

"We're independent — an incorporated nonprofit 501(c) (3) — and the ladies started this chapter, really, to help other women and their kids."

They've done that to the tune of $250,000 over three decades. It's money that goes to support local organizations like the Helping Hands Shelter in Rockville and local chapters of national groups like the NAACP Scholarship Fund, United Negro College Fund and the African American Festival of Academic Excellence.

There are scholarships for single mothers at the University of the District of Columbia, University of Maryland and the Takoma Park Campus of Montgomery College; scholarships for academically talented high school seniors of any race who will attend historically Black colleges — even annual awards that help send students to the Montgomery County Schools Summer Search Programs.

"Our purpose is to reach out to those in need in the Montgomery County community," says McCarthy. "To serve others in different ways: providing grade schoolers with backpacks and school supplies, helping out in shelters."

Like Leggett, McCarthy is a busy, well-educated career woman. Retired from the FDA, she holds a doctorate in public health and teaches nursing at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. But making time for the charitable — and social — activities of the Alpha Wives has had unexpected benefits.

"There's a wonderful support there for one another," McCarthy says, adding that when she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, "the ladies were just there.

"There were cards and cards and calls…I was fortunate, I was diagnosed early. But the Alpha Wives — and the husbands, too —they were there for me."

‘Chat & chew'

These Alpha Wives of Montgomery County are hardly the typical "ladies who lunch." And theirs is not a typical fundraiser. Until last year, McCarthy explains, the fashion show was held at the now-shuttered Indian Spring Country Club — and the tickets were sold hand to hand, often at church or in neighborhoods, to family members, colleagues and friends.

"The members just went out and sold tickets," she says, adding that the move to Strathmore has meant encouraging people to go to their computers to purchase tickets — not an easy feat.

"It was a big jump for us to do it this way," she says. "People are used to the personal contact, and some aren't computer savvy."

Still, the Strathmore location has its advantages: a big capacity, a beautiful setting, a selection of food and beverages.

"Last year's show was very exciting. People loved it," McCarthy says. "I thought it was the best show we had in 10 years; there was a real excitement."

McCarthy says that the Ebony Fashion Fair is a traveling fashion show, "very professional, with true models and haute couture. It's like going to the theater."

And it started with Katie Hatchel.

"In 1971, we organized the Alpha Wives just as an organization to assist our husbands," says Hatchel, who lives in Silver Spring. "But we decided to form our own identity."

Eventually, Hatchel and her Alpha Wives settled on the Ebony Fashion Fair as a way to combine the organization's social and charitable missions.

"I knew it was a traveling show that was very popular, and that it would be a great way to raise money," she says.

Over the years, it has become more than that. Hatchel remembers the days of selling tickets.

"That was part of the excitement,' she says. "I had a list, and ladies would remind me every year that they were ready for the show.

"It was a time when friends got together,' she continues, "We'd eat our dinner, ‘chat and chew' until the show started."

And with the proceeds from ticket sales, the Alpha Wives went out in the community and made a difference.

"We help the homeless shelters, we help the United Negro College Fund, we help the unwed mothers' facility," she says with pride. "We have done quite a bit for the community.

"And now there's a whole new group coming in."

Fun and fundraising

The new group is welcome — as Hatchel points out, the only criteria for membership in the group is that "your husband is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity."

Loretta Davis, a longtime member who's both a former chairwoman of the Ebony Fashion Fair and a former Alpha Wives president, says, "It's a group of professional ladies who work very hard to see the show is successful, and that we raise sufficient funds for our educational and charitable endeavors."

Davis, who lives in Rockville, says that the Alpha Wives is for women of all ages and ethnicities

"It's a professional group," she explains. "We have teachers, doctors, attorneys. And lots of the Alpha Wives are in tune with the latest fashions.

"Some of the wives are very stylish!"

Still, Davis says, the show is "a fun thing.

"Everyone has a lot of fun. We donate prizes, have raffles, and then there's the show with high-end fashions from top designers."

That's a big part of the draw, even for people who don't tend to splash out on fashion. Nothing is for sale; the fashions are new and fun, and can be found in boutiques and at high-end department stores if you're so inclined. Rather, the Ebony Fashion Fair is about fun and fundraising.

"They have lights, they have music!" says Leggett. "It's fashion and high energy, and it's a wonderful venue.

"And it's on Columbus Day, so you can get there early, get some food and a drink. Hopefully, it'll be a gorgeous day, and you can enjoy a lovely evening outside Strathmore."

She says it's "an old-fashioned evening" in the sense that it's a get-together without the pressures of career networking or political hobnobbing.

"The ladies like to dress,' says McCarthy. "Not that it's all ladies – men like to come and see these models, too. They do swimwear, lingerie; the men love that."

(Leggett points out that there are male models, too — "They'll have just a taste of menswear" — so that everyone gets equal time.)

Fun, definitely. Fashion, for sure. And don't forget the philanthropy.

The Ebony Fashion Fair comes to the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, at 8 p.m. Monday. Tickets are $25, and each includes a choice of a one-year subscription to Ebony magazine or a six-month subscription to Jet magazine. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.